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生命

Mandarin · pinyin shēng mìng

life (as the characteristic of living beings)
living being; creature (Classifier: 條 tiáo)

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Characters in this entry

生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
命: mìng · life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4 · sheng1 ming4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

sang1 ming6

Cantonese word readings for 生命. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(countable, uncountable) life (characteristic of living beings, state of being alive) (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 條／条 m c)
living being; creature
(figuratively) timespan (of an activity); career

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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